BRIEFCASEUNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER

Ripple Effect Clinics give grads more stroke in job market 2010 Volume 29 BRIEFCASE Number 1 UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER

Please direct correspondence to: Alex Kopatic BRIEFCASE EDITOR University of Houston Law Center 100 Law Center Houston TX 77204-6060 [email protected]

713-743-2184 713.743-2131 (fax)

Writer John Kling UH Law Alumni Association Photography Nash Baker, Creative Services 2009/2010 Board of Directors Illustration Michael Dean Design Eric Dowding Warren Harris, ’88 | President Printing UH Printing Services Leslie Kiefer Amann ’87 Michael A. Lee ’90 © 2010 University of Houston Law Center. Susan Bickley ’84 Elaine McAnelly ’82 All publication rights reserved. The information contained here does not necessarily refl ect the opinions of the Law Center and The Honorable Jeff Brown ’95 Ann Ryan Robertson ’77, LL.M. ’05 the University of Houston. Damon Chargois ’94 Susan Sample LL.M. ’96 UH Law Center Administration Sean Gorman ’88 Susan Sanchez ’87 James Grace ’92 Susan Stanton ’92 Dean and Leonard H. Childs Professor of Law Thomas F.A. Hetherington ’98 Richard Wilson ’84 Raymond T. Nimmer William “Bill” Jackson ’92 Jim M. Perdue, Jr. ’93 | Ex Offi cio Associate Dean and Dwight Olds Chair in Law Richard M. Alderman Institutes & Special Programs Director, O’Quinn Law Library and Blakely Advocacy Institute Assistant Professor of Law Spencer Simons Director Jim Lawrence ’07

Assistant Dean for Career Development Center for Children, Law & Policy Rhonda Beassie ’99 Co-director Ellen Marrus, George Butler Research Professor of Law Co-director Laura E. Oren, Law Foundation Professor of Law Assistant Dean for External Affairs Kathy Brannon Center for Consumer Law Director Richard Alderman, Dwight Olds Chair in Law Assistant Dean for Information Technology J. Scott Smith Center for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Law Co-director Tracy Hester, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law Associate Dean for Student Affairs Sondra Tennessee Co-director Marcilynn Burke, Assistant Professor of Law Co-director Darren Bush, Associate Professor of Law Assistant Dean for Admissions Co-director Brigham Daniels, Assistant Professor of Law Jamie West ’02 Co-director Jacqueline Weaver, A.A. White Professor of Law

Director, Business Operations Criminal Justice Institute Mybao Nguyen Director Sandra Guerra Thompson, Law Foundation Professor of Law Director, Marketing and Communications Health Law & Policy Institute Alex Kopatic Co-director Seth Chandler, Law Foundation Professor of Law Co-director Barbara J. Evans, Associate Professor of Law Co-director William J. Winslade, M.D. University of Houston Law Center 100 Law Center Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance Houston, TX 77204-6060 713-743-2100 Director Michael A. Olivas, William B. Bates Distinguished Chair In Law www.law.uh.edu Institute for Intellectual Property & Information Law Co-director Craig Joyce, Andrews Kurth Professor of Law University of Houston is an EEO/AA institution. Co-director Greg R. Vetter, Assistant Professor of Law

Briefcase spring 2010 DEAN’SNOTEDEAN’SNOTE Thanks to the support of our alumni and President Renu Khator of the University of Houston, we are moving ahead with several key initiatives that promise to reinforce our national standing and defi ne our Law Center for many years to come. One of the most signifi cant faculty recruitment efforts in the history of the Law Center continues to yield outstanding results. During my tenure as dean, we have added a dozen new faculty members who were highly recruited by Top Tier law schools. These outstanding professors of law bring remarkable credentials, expertise and energy to our campus, and we are a better school for adding them to our ranks. As we look to the future, we also salute four luminaries who served the Law Center with distinction for many decades: Sidney Buchanan, Stephen Huber, Tom Newhouse and Irene Merker Rosenberg. All four are now honored as professors emeriti of the Law Center. The prospects for a major new building on our campus are growing brighter. The University of Houston has launched a feasibility study of our much-anticipated new building that would be added near the newly opened Calhoun Lofts for graduate students housing. Financed by a combination of tuition-backed bonds and private contributions, the new building would allow us to expand programs Briefl y Noted 2 such as the clinical operations that are outlined in this issue of Briefcase.

Prestige Scholarships 4 We have made the strategic decision to limit the size of our incoming classes to increase the quality of the educational experience at the Law

Cover Story: Clinics 6 Center and further build the prestige of a Law Center degree. At the same time, the UH Board of Regents has raised our tuition to bring

Profi le: Jordan Paust 12 the Law Center more in line with our peer schools and maintain our resources despite cutbacks in state support for higher education. Class Notes 16 Our J.D. and LL.M. programs continue to attract a record number of applicants, and each incoming class during my tenure as dean has set New Faces 20 a record for academic achievement. At the same time, the Law Center remains one of the most diverse campuses in the nation, with minorities Haiti: Michelle Bohreer 21 accounting for more than 28 percent of our newest incoming class. After the national economy faltered in 2009, many schools found it Briefl y Noted 22 necessary to scale back on multiple fronts. Our Law Center is in a much more favorable position, and I believe we are entering an unparalleled Calhoun Lofts 23 period of achievement that will witness great successes for our school and our students. Our alumni are playing key roles in elevating the excellence of Alumni Network 24 the Law Center, and they are gaining something important in return: a great return on the investment in their law degree from a truly superior school.

Dean Raymond T. Nimmer, Dean and Leonard H. Childs Professor of Law

www.law.uh.eduwwww.llaww.uhh.eeddu 1 BRIEFLYNOTEDBRIEFLYNOTEDBRIEFLYNOTED

Law Center specialty Professor Thomas programs recognized Newhouse The school’s health law and intellectual property programs have long been recognized among the Top 10 in the nation, currently ranking 2nd and 7th respectively in the annual poll compiled by U.S. News & World Report magazine. Professor Stephen With the addition of the Law Center’s K. Huber clinical training program, the school is now one of only eight public law H-GAC Grant is Good News schools with three or more nationally for Ike Victims recognized programs. The Law Center’s Hurricane Ike spared the Law Center, but fl agship publication, the Houston Law other parts of the region were not so lucky. In Review, moved up eight spots to No. 42 recognition of legal problems that continue among more than 1,500 legal journals Professor Sidney to plague victims of the massive storm, the published worldwide in rankings compiled Buchanan Houston-Galveston Area Council recently by Washington & Lee University. The Law awarded the Center for Consumer Law a Center is the only Texas school cited as $404,000 grant to expand its program of a leader in public interest law among helping victims of Hurricane Ike deal with the nation’s 200 law schools by The unresolved legal issues. “This grant will National Jurist. The school ranked 44th support our ongoing efforts to provide storm based on student involvement, curriculum victims with the legal assistance they need, and fi nancial factors. In a new ranking from basic information and counseling, compiled by the editors of the Super Professor Irene to the fi ling of lawsuits,” said Associate Lawyers list, the Law Center ranks No. Merker Rosenberg Dean Richard Alderman, who directs the 34 nationally for the number of alums center. The H-GAC grant is the largest ever included in the annual compilation of the received by the Center for Consumer Law, nation’s leading lawyers. And the school surpassing the $356,000 Cy Pres award ranks No. 37 nationally for the number of from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott fi rst-year associates working at the best that Alderman used to establish the highly U.S. fi rms. New rankings from U.S. News successful Texas Consumer Complaint Center. & World Report are due in April 2010. Four retirees leave lasting legacy The Law Center bid a fond farewell Experts explore hot-button issue: to four faculty mainstays who retired Should government be secular or religious? after decades of teaching, counseling, Two eminent constitutional law experts took another look at a continuing hot-button molding and inspiring young lawyers. issue in a panel discussion of “Evolution, Intelligent Design and Religion in the Schools” Professors Sidney Buchanan, Stephen sponsored by the Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League-Southwest Region. Erwin K. Huber, Thomas Newhouse and Irene Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California Irvine School of Law, and U.S. District Merker Rosenberg are now recognized Judge John E. Jones of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, agreed the country may see as professors emeriti of the Law Center a major change in interpretation of the “establishment clause” of the Constitution. The – and are honored with a Faculty Legacy pendulum, they said, may be swinging toward more religion in government programs, Fund that fuels scholarships for deserving education and other areas such as symbols on the courthouse square. The expert’s students. For more information about consensus: this is a serious constitutional issue and the latest chapter in a continuing the fund, contact [email protected]. debate about whether government should be secular or religious.

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Frankel Lecture The 14th Annual Houston Law Review Frankel Lecture examined the history, health and welfare of the 25th Amend- ment, which defi nes when and how a vice-president may succeed to the presidency and has been invoked six State Bar Honors times since its ratifi cation in 1967. Previ- Law Center quintet ous transitions of power – including the Special awards are among the highlights swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson hours of the annual meeting of the State Bar of after the assassination of President John Texas — and the SBOT gathering in Dallas F. Kennedy – proved smooth and orderly put the spotlight on fi ve members of the even though the exact process had not Law Center community. Professor David been constitutionally defi ned. Keynote Judge traces life from Dow earned the SBOT’s Civil Rights Award speaker at the Frankel Lecture was Akhil Holocaust to World Court for his work with the Texas Innocence Reed Amar, the Sterling Professor of Law Thomas Buergenthal, legal scholar, Holo- Network and his defense of more than 100 and Political Science at Yale Law School. caust survivor and United States judge on inmates on Death Row. The late Professor Commentators included John D. Feerick, the International Court of Justice in The Joe Vail, who founded the Law Center’s the Sidney C. Norris Chair of Law in Public Hague, discussed his life and career in a Immigration Law Clinic in 1999, received Service at Fordham University School of Law Center presentation with Alan Crain the Texas Young Lawyers Association Law; and Joel K. Goldstein, the Vincent of the World Affairs Council of Houston. Outstanding Mentor Award. Vail, who died C. Immel Professor of Law at Saint Louis The two explored how Buergenthal’s in 2008, previously earned the SBOT’s Pro University School of Law. Previously, the boyhood experience in Nazi death camps Bono Award, the American Immigration Frankel Lecture had explored the “culture affected his beliefs and world view. The Lawyers Association’s Elmer Fried Excel- clash” between lawyers and managers in visit was co-hosted by the Law Center lence in Teaching Award, and the National the corporate world, with keynoter Profes- and the Holocaust Museum of Houston. Immigration Project’s Carol King Award. sor Geoffrey C. Hazard of the University Two members of the Class of 2009 — of California Hastings College of Law. He Micaela Natalie Alfaro and LaTasha Mabry was joined by commentators Stephen V. Arbogast of the University of Houston — earned Women & Minority Scholar- Blakely crowns undisputed ships from the SBOT Intellectual Property C. T. Bauer College of Business; and Edward B. Rock, professor and co-director national moot court champ Law Section. Richard “Racehorse” Haynes Even while a true NCAA football cham- ‘56 was named the “Outstanding 50 Year of the Institute for Law & Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. pion remains elusive, the debate on the Lawyer” by the Texas Bar Foundation. nation’s top moot court team has been si- lenced by a National Moot Court Champi- onship devised and hosted by the Blakely Advocacy Institute. A total of 16 teams Artwork colors student life earn their way to the exclusive competi- Student life got a little bit brighter, at tion by achieving outstanding results in least in the Commons and fi rst fl oor the nation’s top moot court tournaments. hallway, with the addition of a much- These “best of the best” then convene at needed splash of color in the form of the Law Center to battle for the coveted paintings by Katherine Houston. The title of National Moot Court Champion. local artist paints her vibrant acrylics on The University of Detroit Mercy won the sheets of Plexiglas, creating from the fi rst title, and the January 2010 tourna- back while viewing from the front. ment trophy went to a team from John Marshall Law School.

www.law.uh.edu 3 PRESTIGE SCHOLARSHIPS Don Riddle ’66 helps the Law Center recruit top candidates

henh Dean Ray NNimmer sought an edgeedg to improve the Law Center’s ability to competecomp with other Tier One lawla schools for top Wstudents,students he turned to a longtime friend for suggestions. “He asked this old dinosaur for ideas about how to take the Law Center to the ulti- mate level of excellence,” said Don Riddle ‘66, one of the school’s most successful alumni. has taught at the Law Center and co-authored She noted that the fi rst three winners of Pres- Riddle knew the academic standing and top- a book with Dean Nimmer. “But as a public tige Scholarships — Robert W. Lundell Jr., notch faculty were already in place. To reach law school it perhaps doesn’t shine as much as Laura K. Tu and Daphne Wang — are gradu- the next level would require a simple solu- some of the other schools. So, anything we can ates of the University of Texas. tion: money. The renowned trial lawyer didn’t do to attract good candidates is important.” In addition to covering tuition and fees, waste time in putting his concept into action. Riddle noted with satisfaction that each Riddle suggested the program include a men- “I sent out a notice to friends and sug- of the fi rst year’s winners said the scholarship toring component in which donors would be gested we all pitch in,” Riddle says, “and was a deciding factor in choosing the Law available to advise students and introduce before I could turn off my computer, I had Center over other options. “We defi nitely feel them to the legal community. enough e-mails to fund two scholarships.” The like we pirated students from other institu- Riddle’s group — dubbed the 1947 Pres- Law Center’s fi rst three-year, full-ride awards – tions,” he said. tige Scholarship Founders in observance of the Prestige Scholarships – were born. Winners were chosen from the entire the year the school opened — and the An- “It was a spur of the moment thought to pool of Law Center applicants. There is no drews Kurth donors made a three-year fund- wrest high-achieving applicants from the Uni- separate application or interview, and the ing commitment. But both Riddle and Dodd versity of Texas or Harvard or some other exotic awards of Prestige Scholarships are not based are confi dent others will step up in years place,” Riddle says. “These Prestige Scholar- on need. Jamie West, assistant dean for ad- ahead to expand the program. ships give us the chance to get superior stu- missions, said criteria include LSAT scores, “I’m certainly hoping there will be others dents we might otherwise not have attained.” GPA, non-academic activities and other back- who come from younger graduating classes It didn’t take long for other alums to step ground information and, to a great extent, than I who have their own coterie of friends forward. Dean Nimmer approached Jeff Dodd the personal statement submitted with the and classmates to fund scholarships in the fu- ’79 with a similar proposal, and Dodd encour- student’s school application. “We’re look- ture,” Riddle said. “I hope to see 10 or more aged a small group of colleagues at Andrews ing for an outstanding personal statement funded in the years to come. It’s clear that the Kurth to support a third scholarship. “I think of their purpose in going to law school, their level of competency of our students would it’s a tremendous law school,” says Dodd, who goals and basically who they are,” West said. grow along with these scholarships.” •

4 Briefcase spring 2010 Laura Tu Robert. W. Daphne Lundell Jr. Wang

Age: 24 Age: 23 Age: 21 Hometown: Houston Hometown: Houston Hometown: Sugar Land Education: Education: Education: B.A. Business B.S. Biochemistry, University of B.A. Government, University of Foundations, University of Texas Texas; M.P.H., University of Texas Texas Interests: Uncertain School of Public Health Interests: Considering energy Interests: Health law, Public law Lessons learned watching her parents’ Interest or Intellectual Property hard work and determination in starting Robert Lundell was a bit uncertain and building a successful business have about what he wanted to do in life, served Daphne Wang well on her path Laura Tu spent her early college days to a law career. She remembers their peering into Petri dishes and vaguely and searched for academic and career goals that met his diverse interests. He resolve in learning the ins and outs of a seeing a future in medicine. As a child new enterprise through trial and error of Vietnamese immigrants who was liked the outdoors and cared about the planet, perhaps a college major and the long, exhausting hours working raised in a one-bedroom apartment, in a small dry cleaning shop without air she knew only too well about the plight in wildlife biology or environmental science. But political science proved a conditioning during Houston summers. of the poor and wanted to help – and And she also remembers missing out becoming a doctor seemed the logical lot more interesting and he gravitated toward public policy and, eventually, on some childhood experiences and path. But she came to realize there were teenage fun because she was working many ways to help the community that law. It was an unpaid internship with a freshman state representative and a stint at the shop or at home caring for two didn’t involve a regimen of heavy science and then three younger siblings while and hours in the lab. She gravitated at the Capitol that really jumpstarted an appetite for education and sealed her parents worked. The life lessons toward public health and eventually might be summed up in single words was drawn to dual J.D./M.P.H. degrees. the deal for a career in the law. His hands-on work in the Legislature and – responsibility, patience, willpower “The possibility of fusing the two fi elds and ambition – or phrases such as together thrilled me,” she wrote in her with constituents lead to a revelation that “public policy is not a discreet social skills, level-headed, attention to Law Center application. “Coming from detail and work ethic – all of which a science background of absolutes, the academic discipline: it is a synthesis of economics, philosophy, history and so will serve her well in law school and world of law was a breath of fresh air beyond. “I have developed into a strong, fi lled with nuances and uncertainties.” much more.” He feels his newfound thirst for knowledge, combined with his independent woman with the help of political experience, has “galvanized” an even stronger foundation from my his pursuit of a legal career. experiences growing up,” she wrote in her application to the Law Center.

www.law.uh.edu 5 Cover story NATIONALLY RANKED CLINICS

Law Center students gain practical experience in six key areas of the law – and a valuable mark of distinction in the legal job market

aw students have many choice words students gain through the Law Center’s clinics. fofor laboring through case law, but one Aurelio Garza ’08 was drawn to the program, wword stands out after reading through and the Immigration Clinic in particular, be- dodozens of court reports: Impersonal. cause he is a product of the Rio Grande Valley LProfessoProfessors may extol Smith v. Jones as a land- and has an almost ingrained interest in help- mark case, but you never get to see Smith up ing immigrants. Garza also wanted to hone the close, and students are left to wonder if Jones skills he would need to effectively communi- smirked when the verdict was read. cate with clients when he entered practice. He There’s another side to studying law, and fulfi lled both goals by representing “Jessica,” a it puts students face-to-face with people and victim of human traffi cking from El Salvador. situations they will never forget. The Law Cen- She came to the Law Center after (in her words) ter curriculum includes six distinct clinical pro- “absolute hell” and had no other place to turn grams, and collectively they rank among the for help in avoiding deportation. Garza’s job best in the nation, according to U.S. News & was to capture the details, despair and emotion World Report magazine. of her ordeal in hopes of convincing an immi- All it takes is one case history to empha- gration judge to grant her a visa. “It was gut- size the powerful real-world experience that wrenching,” he says from his offi ce in McAllen.

6 Briefcase spring 2010 Immigration Clinic avigating the twists and turns of immigration law with its alphabet soup of federal N agencies, rules and regulations can be daunting for any experienced attorney. To Law Center students, the maelstrom of immigration law provides an unparalleled learning opportunity that allows them to “help people who need help the most,” in the words of Diana Velardo ‘01, who serves as a supervising attorney along with Janet Beck. The clinic’s new director, Assoc. Prof. Geoffrey A. Hoffman, brings a strong background in a range of immigration-related matters. In March 2010, Hoffman served as co-counsel on an Immigration Clinic case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court (see story on p. 24), and he wants to see more Law Center students working cases through the federal courts. The clinic’s cases can be complex and heartbreaking, ranging from asylum applications and child issues to domestic violence, crime and human traffi cking. In cooperation with community service organizations, clinic students also give presentations and participate in two immigration workshops named in honor of the clinic founder, the late Prof. Joseph A. Vail. The need is great. In the area of human traffi cking alone, the State Department estimates one-third of all incidents – as many as 18,000 a year – occur in Texas. Velardo questions that number, calling it absurdly low. The Immigration Clinic is the Law Center’s largest, with as many as 20 students per semester, and the most popular, likely because many students are descendants of immigrants. The two-hour a week classroom component of the four-unit clinic concentrates on teaching advocacy skills and substantive law that students will require to represent clients before federal agencies and judges. Students are responsible for handling cases from initial interviews through the conclusion, including trial, if needed.

“She would break down in tears because there grueling, but her life in Houston’s east side were very diffi cult things she had to explain to made the trip seem like a picnic. Her dream of me in detail. And it was hard for her, especially a better life was replaced by a brutal reality: talking about them with a man.” Jessica was held as a sex slave, with the own- Those heart-rending interviews made Jes- ers of an East End cantina forcing her to hustle sica and her case anything but impersonal for drinks, dance with drunks and prostitute herself Garza. A single mother of two young daugh- night after night. After deducting money for ters, Jessica (not her real name) had been eking rent, food, “fi nes,” and other expenses, the bar out a living waiting tables in her small town. owners gave her $40 on Sundays. The $7,000 She was told “good money” could be found debt was never meant to be paid in full, and in el Norte and elected to join 20 others on an escape was out of the question. “I didn’t want exhausting three-week trek through Guatemala to be there,” she says in a whisper through an and Mexico, eventually crossing the Rio Grande interpreter, “but they told me if I tried to run on a makeshift fl oat. The traffi cker’s price was away they would do something to my daugh- $7,000, a fortune that was to be paid when ters.” Twisting and untwisting a tissue, Jessica’s she earned that “good money” waiting tables red-rimmed eyes give way to tears as she adds in America. The journey from El Salvador was haltingly, “My family … would pay.”

www.law.uh.edu 7 Jessica’s ordeal ended with a raid victims of domestic violence and con- on the cantina by federal agents. Fac- sumer fraud. Under the supervision ing deportation, she turned to the Law of clinical faculty, students handle all Center for help – and managed to get aspects of cases from initial interviews her dream back on track, thanks to the to representing clients in court. By the work of Garza and others in the Im- end of a semester they have handled migration Clinic. That’s what the Law fi les, dealt with practicing lawyers, Center’s Clinical Training program is all drafted legal correspondence and about – a “win win” situation that ben- motions, taken depositions, negoti- efi ts clients and students. ated leases or settlements and met In legal education, the issue of numerous deadlines. “They’ve got- practical vs. theoretical has been ten over that initial learning curve of open to debate, and even conten- how to practice law,” Heppard says. tion, for years. But the practical side, “I’ve had attorneys come up to my and clinical training in particular, has students at the courthouse and say, gained added importance recently as ‘How do I fi le this pleading?’ the economic downturn forced large “The cases are theirs to handle,” and small law fi rms to look for new she adds, “but we’re there, we’re in associates who could immediately put the background. But for the most theory into practice. part, we want them to be taking con- Janet Heppard, director of clinical trol of the case. It makes them real- education at the Law Center, speaks ize that ‘I can go out there and I can of the “changing fl avor” of the law practice law.’ After all, that’s why and what employers are looking for – they went to law school in the fi rst and how it infl uences what students place.” Heppard notes that the clini- need to learn. The traditional system cal operations represent a win-win of young associates learning the ba- arrangement. “We benefi t the com- sics of lawyering in the fi rst few years munity because there are so many on the job is fading, she says. “Law people out there who can’t afford an fi rms want students coming in ready attorney, and we benefi t the students to practice because they want them generating income from the begin- ning, especially when these associates are starting at six-fi gure salaries,” she says. While Heppard credits the Law Center with giving all of its students Civil Practice Clinic a superior education, she speaks with he Civil Practice Clinic recently earned headlines when a Law Center team prompted the recusal of a juvenile court judge after he made prejudicial comments during a a sense of pride (as a former clinical T child custody hearing. The judge said he believed the 50-something grandparents seeking student herself, Class of ’93) when custody were too old to raise two young boys. When the Law Center team sought a she notes that students with clinical recusal, the judge was so enraged by the motion that Supervising Attorney Barbara experience have a leg up in the job Stalder thought she was going to be hauled off to a holding cell. No such scene ensued, market. “Students who come from and the case was assigned to a different judge. “They were excellent, excellent students,” the clinics have an extra set of skills Stadler said of the two who graduated this year. “And, they are going to make excellent that even those who clerked at law lawyers.” She calls them typical of students who put in the extra time and effort to work fi rms don’t get. Real, down-to-earth in the clinical program. Director Janet Heppard says, in general, students handle the lawyer skills,” she says. types of cases they might encounter in their fi rst fi ve years of practice, ranging from bankruptcy, divorce and adoption to estate planning and probate. “It’s very challenging Practical skills at the Law Center for students,” Stalder says. She cites how experience covers everything from dealing with are earned in six clinical programs: fi les, clients, confi dentiality, ethics and a myriad of other issues, in addition to testing (if Civil, Criminal, Consumer, Immigra- not forging) the ability to think ahead and formulate strategies. The four-unit course also tion, Transactional, and Mediation/ has a classroom component that meets two hours each week. Stalder, a veteran of the Externships. Clients range from un- Immigration Clinic as a member of the class of ‘03, is a big proponent of clinical training. documented immigrants and refu- “It provides an avenue for students to learn the total package of practicing law,” she says. gees seeking asylum to small business “It’s an opportunity for students to have probably one of the most valuable experiences owners, non-profi t organizations and of their lifetime.”

8 Briefcase spring 2010 Consumerobert Goss LL.M. ’08 credits his training Law in the Consumer Clinic Law Clinic and the lessons R learned from its supervising attorney, Professor Richard McElvaney, for convincing him to expand his fl edgling practice into the areas of landlord/tenant and property law. He gained practical experience working on a complex contract-for-deed case and a landlord/tenant dispute in which a threat to seize an entire apartment complex convinced the owner to settle his client’s relatively small claim. Cases like these underscore the need for practical legal education, Goss says. “These people have no money and have a desperate need for help. Rick taught us not only what you need to do to help a client, but also to win the case.” McElvaney says an average semester will see the clinic’s four students handle about 50 cases, ranging from property disputes and even bankruptcy to alleged scams from small-time con artists. All but a tiny percentage are settled out of court. “But we have gone from initial interviews all the way to jury trial,” he says. The four-credit clinic has a two-hour, weekly classroom component that provides an overview of consumer issues. McElvaney, a legal aid attorney before coming to the Law Center, is naturally a big supporter of helping the community through practical legal education. “I’m surprised about how many people attend a law school and all they do in most of their courses is read the appellate court decisions. They don’t get the practical skills. And here we have so many ways to give them those skills,” he says. Including, of course, the Consumer Law Clinic.

because they learn about the practical confi rm particular interests and to urged a major revamping of curricu- side of the law,” she says. insure that each student understands lum to better integrate “formal knowl- A third benefi t, Heppard says, what they are getting into. A four- edge” with “practical experience.” involves the way that students also credit hour clinic can total up to a “I think we’re in a new phase,” learn something about themselves. combined 200 hours for classroom says Susan Westerberg Prager, execu- “We try to get students thinking and clinical work, and Heppard says tive director and CEO of the Associa- about the balance in their life, their it can be hard to pass that investment tion of American Law Schools. “There goal. Refl ecting on how they’re doing in time, effort and emotion on to an- is more foment about and interest in as a lawyer. Refl ecting on what they other student if a case is not resolved the curriculum than at any time since I see in the court, the lawyers they see, by the end of a semester. Many stu- entered teaching in 1972. What we are their behavior. They take that back dents are committed enough to their seeing is a true clinical movement, but and think about it when they go out assignments that they elect to sign up not just simulated situations that are to practice,” she says. for a second round of clinical work to designed to give students lawyer skills, That introspection can swing allow them to fi nish a case. But the not just live clients, but a conscious ef- both ways, but Heppard sees that too award for perseverance goes to the fort to think about the skills that a per- as a plus. “We have some students Law Center graduate who passed the son needs to represent clients.” who come in to see what the practice bar – and returned to shepherd the These skills are exactly what law of law can be. Eventually, they might case through trial. fi rms are looking for, says James G. decide that this is not how they want Leipold, executive director of the to actually practice law, and how they With so many positives, why is Washington-based National Associa- may want to use their law degree to there sometimes a reticence toward tion for Law Placement. “What em- do something else. That’s a success clinical training? ABA accreditation ployers are really looking for are new for us, because we believe it is impor- standards require law schools to “offer associates who have the skills of mid- tant to like what you do as a lawyer,” substantial opportunities for live-client level associates,” he says with a laugh. Heppard says. or other real-life practice experiences “In this economy they are looking for The exposure to real lawyering … designed to encourage refl ection someone who can come up to speed is demanding and the time commit- by students on their experiences and quickly.” In addition to solid writing ment is similar to having a job while on the values and responsibilities of and advocacy skills, law fi rms are look- attending school as a full-time stu- the legal profession.” Yet, a frequently ing for a mastery of business skills, dent, Heppard says. Applicants for cited 2007 Carnegie report found law law fi rm economics, and exposure the 50 or so slots that are offered schools in general fall short in teaching to the business world and “work” in each semester are interviewed to students how to become lawyers and general, he says. “Law students need

www.law.uh.edu 9 have their heads in the clouds.” The Law Center, he points out, has both Criminalalia Jarvis, 2L, entered law Extern/Intern school fairly certain about one thing: she did not want types of professors teaching in its clin- T a future in criminal law or litigation. “Of course it backfi red on me and I absolutely ics. And he and Heppard agree there love it,” she says after a summer externship working on a capital murder case at the Harris has been strong support for the pro- County District Attorney’s offi ce. “I just thought it wasn’t for me. I thought it would be gram over the years from the admin- hard for me to deal with crime victims and murderers. But I felt that I should at least istration and faculty. “Regardless of check it out, and actually I found it very inspiring working on behalf of the public.” Her “inspiration” started when she shadowed her supervising prosecutor on visits to a crime someone’s perspective … there has scene and the jailhouse for an interview with a defendant. That “real world” exposure been an appreciation that the de- to career possibilities is a key benefi t of the Criminal Practice and Judicial Externship/ mands are very great,” Prager says, Internship program, says the director, Assistant Clinical Professor Erma Bonadero. “It offers “because there is so much more one- students the opportunity to work at a select number of approved off-campus placements, on-one with the students and much such as governmental agencies, public interest entities, and with state and federal judges,” more time involved with cases. There she says. ”Students are given the opportunity to refi ne educational goals and test their has always been a tremendous respect career options.” The criminal clinic is taught by state District Judge Belinda Hill and meets for those who do it.” for two hours a week, exploring the ethics, process and logistics of pursuing a case. Jarvis spent the second half of her summer interning for U.S. District Judge David Hittner at the federal courthouse where she attended the bond hearing for accused Ponzi scammer While all of the Law Center’s R. Allen Stanford on her fi rst day of work. She is still somewhat surprised by how her clinics fi ll rapidly each semester, the experiences have expanded her legal horizons. “I really, really didn’t expect I‘d feel about Immigration Clinic is the largest and it the way I did,” she says. “The difference you can make, even if it is incremental, will be most popular – possibly because of felt by the community, whether it realizes it or not. I have a lot of fi elds to explore, and a the constant infl ux of immigrants in limited time to do it, but criminal law is absolutely on the table now.” Houston, and the fact that many Law Center students are fi rst- or second- generation Americans and have a per- sonal interest in the fi eld. to approach clients as clients and law of legal education. “The primary mis- “The importance of the clinic as a as a business proposition. The more sion of law school is to train men and model for law school learning cannot clinical experience the better; the more women to serve clients in resolving be overstated,” says the clinic’s new exposure to clients, the more exposure disputes, and that requires both the director, Associate Professor Geof- to the real legal world, the better,” mastery of substance and mastery of frey A. Hoffman. “Due to the range he says. Leipold agrees with Prager skills,” he says. Clinical training helps of cases our clinic handles, from asy- that law schools are paying atten- students “develop those lawyering lum to naturalization to self-petitions tion. “We’re in a period of change and skills – taking what they’ve learned based on domestic violence to fed- evolution,” he says. “Law schools are about the law off the shelf and mix- eral court matters, the students get a realizing the more practice-ready their ing it up with people.” wide range of experience in a variety graduates are, the more valuable they The economy and changing of cases before they ever leave law are in the marketplace.” needs of law fi rms are seen as fac- school.” “Most employers want the per- tors in breaking down the often tense Diana Velardo is the crime vic- son who can think their way through dichotomy between thought and ac- tims coordinator and a supervisory at- whatever problem lands on their tion in legal education. The general torney in the Immigration Clinic. She desk,” Prager says. “So I think there belief is that clinical professors usually brings her unremitting energy and will continue to be a premium on come up short in compensation, ten- bubbly personality to cases, like Jes- those who can analyze a problem. ure, importance within the curriculum sica’s, that would test anyone’s spirit. But as time goes on we will see those and faculty pecking order. In the past, Velardo’s students deal in domestic who have had experience will have some felt clinical programs with their violence, human traffi cking and vic- more of an opportunity to land that low student to instructor ratio drained tims of other crimes. Her credo: “How fi rst job and a signifi cant advantage funding and simply weren’t worth the can we help this person?” The answer if they worked in a specialized fi eld.” expense. Newhouse says any conten- generally involves maneuvering them Professor Emeritus Thomas New- tion, real or perceived, may stem from through the alphabet maze of ICE, house, who mentored students in the the general fact that “clinical profes- CIS, CBP and other government ac- Law Center’s civil practice and media- sors don’t write theory for law review ronyms. “Even though we have come tion clinics for more than 20 years, articles, the meat of traditional law up with a system, it can be frustrating says the combination of the theoreti- school scholarship, and some clinical when you are trying to help the peo- cal and practical gets to the essence professors think tenured professors ple who need it the most, and you are

10 Briefcase spring 2010 the one who needs a lawyer,” says the 2001 Law Center graduate. “Our job Mediation Clinic is to make it manageable so it doesn’t he Mediation program has started a new partnership with the Blakely Advocacy become unmanageable. We serve as a T Institute, making the 40-hour mediation training course available to all Law Center model to the rest of the country,” she students under the direction of Assistant Professor Tasha Willis. The training is designed says, adding that anyone with a ques- to provide students with the skills and credentials needed to serve as a court-appointed tion about U-Visas or T-Visas or any mediator. Students will then be eligible to register for the mediation externship and serve of the other federal permits or paper- in Harris County Justice Courts, as well as for the Better Business Bureau. “Even if the majority of students never serve as a mediator, having been through the basic training work typically turns to the clinic for will allow them to better serve their clients when representing them in mediation,” Willis answers. A typical week can see her says. “In addition, the communication skills utilized in the mediation process will help them offi ce fi eld questions from churches, be better advocates overall.” Clinic students are given the opportunity to mediate a wide community organizations, and law range of cases, including consumer issues, landlord/tenant disputes and breach of contract enforcement coalitions. cases. Professor Emeritus Thomas Newhouse, longtime head of the mediation clinic, says Velardo says her students grow the training helps students by “taking what they’ve learned about the law off the shelf and evolve as they fi nd their own niche and mixing it up with people.” Law Center students are observed by a faculty member and comfort level. “Some fear the and given periodic feedback, and the Mediation Clinic has a classroom component to court; others like the paperwork, while provide students with further mediation training, case scheduling into courts and the BBB, and case discussions. “We look forward to expanding our alternative dispute resolution others love litigation. Some feel this is program to include more competitions and greater opportunity for international mediation the best experience they have had in externships,” adds Willis, who came to the Law Center in the summer from the Frank Evan’s law school; others decide they don’t Center for Confl ict Resolution at South Texas College of Law. want to be a lawyer,” she says. All told, however, the semester spent in the clinic is a learning process during which students develop confi dence Velardo says the range of emo- immigration law. “Students say they and expertise. “It’s nice to see them tions witnessed and shared in the have to go to the big fi rms to make coming together and blooming,” Ve- clinic – from hope to misery to despair money, but the fi rst pro bono case lardo says. “And the immigration judg- to triumph — can’t help but have an they take will be human traffi cking or es pretty much know that if the clinic effect on students. She estimates four asylum. That experience can change is going to bring them a case, it will be of every fi ve students who “gradu- everything,” she adds. a properly prepared case.” ate” from the clinic go on to practice One such alumnus is Aurelio Garza, the Law Center student who helped “Jessica” restore a measure of humanity to her world. Garza credits his work at the clinic and his intense interaction with his client, Jessica, for giving him the confi dence to start his Transactional Clinic own practice after earning his J.D. nder the direction of Professor Peter Linzer, the Transactional Clinic is designed to U give students a perspective on the real business world by helping small business And speaking of Jessica… consider owners, start-ups and non-profi t organizations handle daily legal matters. “Too many this closing snapshot of the immigrant young lawyers have no experience with the planning that lawyers need to take part in,” and her new life in Houston… Linzer says, “and very few lawyers of any age are good at drafting contracts.” He notes Dressed in a striped black top how the Transactional Clinic gives Law Center students an important “leg up” before and denim slacks with her auburn they enter practice, and provides fi rst-rate legal help to deserving small businesses. The hair pulled back into a tight bun, Jes- three-credit hour clinic includes a two-hour weekly classroom component during which sica is headed to work. She is a qual- skills in interviewing, counseling, negotiating and drafting are taught. “I gained practical ity control inspector at a small cloth- knowledge of businesses and how they are run,” says third-year student Ada Ferrer. “The clinic helped me put the theory I learned in the classroom into actual practice with ing factory and earns $277 a week, clients.” During the semester she helped a small retail business “get up and running,” a huge improvement over the $40 assisting the owners with their lease, business structure and vendor contracts. “They are she was given at the cantina and the still in business!” she adds in mock surprise. Ferrer is such a believer in practical training $15 she earned at a restaurant in El that she interned at the Harris County District Attorney’s Offi ce during the summer and Salvador. She is 27 and, with the help took the Consumer Law Clinic in the fall semester. She feels she got a solid grounding in of Law Center students, plans to ap- business law in the Transactional Clinic and is looking forward to adding more “people- ply for permanent status. “I want to based experiences” to her resume. “Since I’m not too sure in what area I want to practice, stay here,” she says softly. “I want my it will help me get a feel for different fi elds. If I limited myself to coursework I wouldn’t daughters to grow up here.” • have that hands-on experience.”

www.law.uh.edu 11 12 Briefcase spring 2010 Jordan Paust AT THE FRONT

In a time of war, Law Center professor asks a simple question: Are we a nation committed to the rule of law?

hen the chilling photographs from Abu Ghraib prprison were fi rst leaked to the news media, Jordan Paust iimimmediatelym saw them as something more than compelling eevidencevide of soldiers abusing their charges in Iraq. Instinc- tively,tively, the long-time professor of international law knew the portfolioportfolio of pictures might haunt this generation in the same Wwayway thatthat photographs phottographs of theth My Lai massacre had done nearly 40 years earlier. He felt a distinct sense of déjà vu – but instead of bodies of men, women and children in Vietnam, the cover of TIME magazine now displayed a hooded detainee in Bagh- dad, struggling to balance on a box with electrical wires attached to both hands. Paust was a young Army JAG offi cer in 1969 when the horrors of the My Lai massacre began trickling out, and he recalls how the disturbing news from Vietnam made him question how and why people commit atrocities. As a lawyer in uniform, he also questioned what the military could do about it. “I had always been aware of the need to promote human dignity,” he says, “but especially in that time of atrocities and war.” When Lt. William Calley was tried by a military tribunal, Paust was stunned by the testimony about the brutality and callousness of the bloodbath in a small Vietnamese hamlet. “I struggled with that, person- ally, as a captain training people how not to violate the laws of war,” Paust says. After his military service ended in 1973, and a subsequent two years in an advanced degree program at Yale Law School, Paust joined the Law Center as an associate professor of international law. He now holds the Mike and Teresa Baker Law Center Professorship, and is widely known for his relentless questioning of www.law.uh.edu 13 the Bush Administration’s conduct during the so-called more than 165 articles, essays, book chapters and a recent “war on terror.” In journal articles, on-line postings and a book at Cambridge University Press, Beyond the Law – The critically acclaimed book, he continues to espouse a fi rm Bush Administration’s Unlawful Responses in the “War” belief that high-level offi cials of the U.S. government on Terror. He is among the most cited international law should be prosecuted for war crimes. In his view, these professors in the United States and has appeared on pan- future trials would play an important role in reinforcing els and international committees throughout the world. how the “rule of law” does not recognize international In recent years he has carved an on-line niche as a regular boundaries. “There is a sense among some that anything contributor to Jurist, an electronic news service hosted by is acceptable if it is not being openly done in the United the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Even a cursory States. It seems that as long as it is being done ‘over review of his recent postings will emphasize the clarity of there,’ it’s acceptable. To me, that view misses the point his stance: he fi rmly believes former President Bush, Vice of international law,” he says, sitting comfortably behind President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza an antique desk piled high with books and papers in his Rice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Department of Law Center offi ce. Justice attorney John Yoo and others are reasonably ac- “We’re at a serious crossroads,” he cautions. “Presi- cused of complicity in war crimes by skirting the laws dent Obama says it’s time to move forward, but the do- of war, or facilitating crimes by others. It is his view that mestic impact of doing that could be disastrous. Are we the abuses of Abu Ghraib accrued not from a few bad a nation committed to the rule of law? And if not, how apples, but from “serial criminality.” Approval can wee teach that itit’s s not OK to break the law at home of enhancedenhhaannceced interrogation techniques cascadedcascad or abroad?”oad?” he asks. In his view, the path is clear. “There downdownwn fromfrorom the highest levels of government,governme shouldd be public sanctions,” he declares fl atlatly.y. Despite andand shouldshoouuldld bebe viewedviewed as elementselements ofof what JohnJo the President’sesident’s vow to “look forward,” and the subse- YooYooo hashas admittedadadmitted was a common, unifying planpl quent reversal of plans to release additional photos of deviseddedevised byby an inner circle of the Bush Admin-Adm Abu GGhraibhraib abuses, Paust sasaysys that AttorneAttorneyy General istration.istrationn.. “In“In a sense, the Bush AdministrationAdministrati Eric Holder’solder’s statstatementement that “n“noo oonene is ababoveove ththee hashhas keptkepptt meme veryvery busy,”busy,” he sasaysys ruefullruefully,y, “a“and law” mmayay point toward future legal action. He says I can onlyonly hope the Obama AdministrationAdministrati he wass encouraged by the release of so-called doesn’t keepkekeepe me as busy.”busy.” “torturere memos” tthathat tthehe previous aadmin-dmin- PaustPaauusst hashas beenbeen outspokenoutspoken on U.S.U istrationon used to justify various forms policypopollicyy atat leastleast since thethe Nixon Adminis-Admin of unlawfulnlawful interrogation. “Should trationtrattioon whenwhen hehe publishedpublished an articlearti politiciansians be off the hook? Should inn thetheh University of Texas Law ReviewRevie a formermer vice-president be fi gu- thattthhat questionedquestioned hishis commandercommand rativelyy led off in chains?” he in chief’s decision not to pros-pro asks rhrhetorically.etorically. “I say, ecute military personnel afteraft ‘Why not?’ they left service. When thet There is an Iranian hostage crisiscri unavoid-o id- coloredcolored thethe CarterCart able oobli-bli- Administration,Administratio gation of our PaustPaust ques-que electedd offi cials – inincludingnclc udu ing our tionedtioned thethe useuse of Presidentent – ttoo eexecutexecutee ttermseerrms ooff foodfood as a weap-wea treaties,es, includinincludingg the GeGenevanenevva Con- on, callingccalling it “highly“high ventions,”ns,” he sasays.ys. Other coccountriesounu tries problematic”problemattiicc” and pointingpointi now aappearppear ready to purspursueue llegalegal outout in thethe mediamedia that it hurt tthe actions,s, with SSpainpain and othersotheersrs iindi-ndi- poorestppoorest ofof thethe poor.poor. The newsnew cating a willinwillingnessgness to exerexerciseciisese ttheirheir ststoriestorories prpromptedroompted a pprominentrominent lo- universalsal jjurisdictionurisdiction and pospossiblysibblly fi llee cal ppopoliticalliticaal fi guregure to contact DDeane criminalal charchargesges aagainstgainst hihigh-rank-gh-rank- GeGeorgeorrgge HHardyaardy at the Law CenCentert ing U.S..S. offi cials. Within the small anaandnd deddemandemmaandnd tthathat Paust be fi red. If not,no circle of international law exexperts,perts, ththee alumalumnusnuus ththreatenedreeaattened ttoo withhwithholdold all futfutureu there is increasinincreasingg talk about pospos-- dodonationsnationns tto tthehee sschool.chool. Paust offeredoffered toto re- sible ccivilivil suits and disbarment ppro-ro- sisign,gn, bubutt DeDDeaneanan HHardyaardy checked the list of tthe ceedings.ngs. “This issue won’t ggoo away,” schschool’sool’s ccontributorsontribututoors – and discdiscoveredovered tthath Paust ppredicts.redicts. “It will keep us busy for a year the self-professed “bi“bigg supporter” had contrcontrib- at least.st. Or a decade. Or a ggeneration.”eneration.” uted only $100. “The dean never said anotanotherh Paustaust is a pprolifirolifi c writer who has ppublishedublished wword,”ord,” Paust says with a chuckle.

14 BriefcaseBriefcase spring 201020 2001 Sept. 11 Al Qaeda attacks U.S. Nearly 3,000 killed. Sept. 16 Vice-President Dick Cheney says on NBC’s Meet the Press that the government will have to work through “the dark side” and “in the shadows” to learn what is needed to fi ght terrorism. “It’s going to be vital to use any means at our disposal.” 2002 Feb. 7 President Bush issues order denying Geneva Conventions protections to Taliban and al Qaeda detainees. Jordan Paust, a young Army JAG offi cer, receives a service July 26 Attorney General John Ashcroft concludes medal from his then-commandant, and later Law Center waterboarding is legal. colleague, John Jay Douglass. Paust was recognized this year as among the nation’s Top 10 most frequently cited Aug. 1 Memos from the Department of Justice and White professors in his specialty of International Law. House counsel Alberto Gonzales advise that escalating interrogation techniques that result in pain equivalent Paust remains a lightning rod for comments from to “organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or all sides of the political spectrum, and he concedes oth- even death” are torture. Everything else is legal. ers may not be as passionate about the laws of war and August Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubayda, captured March 28, human rights as he is – especially in a world that lives is waterboarded more than 80 times. under constant threat of terrorism. “I suppose a lot of people would take the Obama approach of just moving 2003 on. But you can’t do that and remain a nation of laws,” he says in his trademark matter-of-fact tone. Paust says it March Top al Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is is unprecedented for a high-ranking U.S. government of- captured March 1 and waterboarded 183 times. fi cial to be prosecuted for international crimes, although March 14 Department of Justice attorney John Yoo sends memo many foreign leaders have been prosecuted in foreign to Department of Defense counsel citing national “self- and international tribunals. Moreover, it is unprecedent- defense” in the treatment of detainees and stating the ed for a sitting president to approve them – which he be- executive power of the president is paramount. lieves Bush did. “I understand there is a political will not April 28-May 10 Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker and CBS News break to prosecute,” he says. But if new information emerges, the story of abuse at Abu Ghraib. the pendulum may change direction – and Paust believes high-level offi cials ultimately would be convicted. 2005 Regardless of the criticism aimed in his direction, Paust feels compelled to pursue his course of legal rea- December Congress passes Detainee Treatment Act outlawing soning that is fi rmly grounded in axioms of international “cruel, inhumane or degrading” treatment of law. “As a professor, I feel a commitment to speak out. prisoners. There simply is no reason not to,” he says. And as part of his commitment, he is upfront about his viewpoints 2007 during classroom discussions where students mull the June 29 Supreme Court rules U.S. must comply with Geneva potential applications of international law. Openness Conventions in treatment of Guantanamo detainees. and transparency – the ideals of any rule of law – are the July 20 Bush signs executive order authorizing CIA to use harsher characteristics he strives for as a teacher. interrogation techniques than allowed by the military. Forty years ago, when Paust and other U.S. Army attorneys practiced “preventive lawyering” by making sure everyone understood and observed the boundar- 2009 ies of war in the wake of My Lai, Paust says the former Jan. 6 President Obama signs executive order to close Commandant of the Judge Advocate General’s School Guantanamo. (and future Law Center colleague) John Jay Douglass told April 16 Obama releases a number of Bush Administration them their job in prosecuting alleged war crimes was to interrogation memos and the ACLU releases four assure that “military justice is just.” Paust feels a duty detailing the extent of the waterboarding of Abu to pursue that goal today by holding accountable those Zubayda and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The White who may have lost sight of American ideals and possi- House says CIA offi cers involved will not be prosecuted. bly crossed over – in the words of former Vice President May 13 Obama reverses himself after fi rst saying he would Cheney – to “the dark side.” • release more pictures of prisoner abuse. www.law.uh.edu 15 CLASSNOTESCLASSNOTESCLASSNOTESCLASSNOTES

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Class of 1964 president of the West Virginia School of Presidents for a three-year term. She also J. Fred Hofheinz has been named to the Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg WV. recently presented a program to the council board of directors of Lucas Energy, Inc. Ann Ryan Robertson (LL.M. ‘05) received in Boston called Investing in the Future by the Texas Women of Excellence in Law 2008 Engaging Younger Generations of Lawyers in Class of 1967 award. Bar Associations. Elizabeth B. Godwin has been reappointed Vanessa Gilmore has co-authored a by Gov. Rick Perry to the Juvenile Justice Class of 1978 book designed to help children deal with Advisory Board. William Andrews, [4] shareholder with the unique psychological issues that arise Andrews Myers Coulter & Hayes, has Class of 1968 when a parent is incarcerated. Written in been elected treasurer for the 2009-2010 Ronald M. Gaswirth, [photo 1] who collaboration with Psychologist Dr. Janice Governing Council of the Construction Law specializes in Employment and Labor law in M. Beal, A Boy Named Rocky: A Coloring Section of the State Bar of Texas. the Dallas offi ce of Gardere Wynne Sewell Book for the Children of Incarcerated Parents LLP, has been named in Texas Monthly’s Mark Langdale has been nominated for is designed to help children discuss and 2008 list of Texas Super Lawyers. election to the Board of Directors for TRT understand a wide range of feelings from Holdings. anger and isolation to fear, anxiety and guilt. Class of 1971 Gilmore, a federal judge, says she has seen Carol E. Dinkins, [2] a partner in the Class of 1979 the devastating effect incarceration can have Houston offi ce of Vinson & Elkins LLP, joined Louis M. Stoler has joined Winstead PC as a on parent and child alike. the newly formed UH Energy Advisory Board partner in the Finance and Banking group. that brings together global industry leaders Class of 1983 for strategic planning and coordination. Class of 1980 Barbara J. Barron received the Texas Bruce Tough [5] was elected chairman Women of Excellence in Law 2008 award. Class of 1972 of the South Montgomery County The Mary A. Garcia has been named the 2009 Ward N. Adkins has joined the law fi rm of Woodlands Chamber of Commerce. recipient of the Assistant Attorney General of Burleson Cooke LLP. the Year Award. Class of 1981 Class of 1973 Cameron Vann has been named Public Class of 1984 Charles J. Jacobus has been added to Interest Lawyer of the Year by the Travis County Mark W. Coffi n joined Seyfarth Shaw’s Savoy Energy Corp.’s Board of Directors. Women Lawyers’ Association in Austin. Corporate Practice Group in the fi rm’s Houston offi ce. Class of 1974 Class of 1982 Stephen N. Mueller has been appointed Pamela R. Akins has been appointed to the Charles S. Parrish has been promoted to by Gov. Rick Perry to the Prepaid Higher Texas Council on Cardiovascular Disease and executive vice president, general counsel and Education Tuition Board. Stroke by Gov. Rick Perry. secretary with Tesoro Corporation. Melanie D. Bragg has written HIPAA for Class of 1976 Class of 1985 the General Practitioner published by the Lance K. Bruun has been appointed by John Bradley, Williamson County district ABA GP/Solo Division. Texas Gov. Rick Perry to the Recreational attorney, received the Prosecutor of the Boating Safety Advisory Panel. Marcia M. Eason, a civil litigator in the Year Award at the Annual Criminal & Civil Chattanooga, TN, offi ce of Miller & Martin Law Update, a yearly conference organized Class of 1977 PLLC, has been named to the executive by the Texas District and County Attorneys Richard Rafes [3] was inaugurated as council of the National Conference of Bar Association (TDCAA).

16 Briefcase spring 2010 CLASSNOTESCLASSNOTESCLASSNOTESCLASSNOTES

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Class of 1986 Super Lawyers. Stein, who co-chairs the fi rm’s competed in the Wurst Triathlon Ever in New Barron Bogatto [6] of the Houston offi ce litigation section, has consistently been named Braunfels. The triathlon consisted of a 400- of Jackson Walker LLP has been chosen by his a Pennsylvania “Super Lawyer” since 2005, and yard swim, 14-mile bike ride and 3.1-mile run. peers as one of the Best Lawyers in America was also named to the Top 50 list in 2008. 2010. Class of 1993 Class of 1989 Joseph “Tré” August Fischer, III, [12] has Catherine Greaves, who specializes in Nancy Hamilton [9] of the Houston offi ce joined Jackson Walker LLP as a partner in the health care law in the Austin offi ce of of Jackson Walker LLP has been chosen Houston offi ce. Thompson & Knight LLP, has been listed in by her peers as one of the Best Lawyers in Wade T. Howard has joined the Gardere The Best Lawyers in America 2009. America 2010. Wynne Sewell Houston offi ce as a partner in Ricky A. Raven, [7] a partner in the Houston William E. Turcotte has been named Senior the fi rm’s litigation group. offi ce of Thompson & Knight LLP, has been Vice President and General Counsel of Noble Steven S. Hwang [13] has been named listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2009. He Corporation. also was appointed by then-Mayor Bill White senior counsel of Group 1 Automotive and to a three-year term on the Houston Police Class of 1990 will oversee all litigation activities within the Offi cers’ Civil Service Board. Mark Comuzzie is a new partner in the company’s legal department. Group 1 is an Wealth Planning practice group of Jackson automobile retailer with operations in the Jackie Robinson, a partner in the Dallas United States and United Kingdom. offi ce of Thompson & Knight LLP, has Walker LLP in its San Antonio offi ce. Sylvia Ann Mayer been elected vice president of the Texas Marvin P. Isgur has been elected the Chief received the Texas Association of Defense Counsel. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District Women of Excellence in Law 2008 award. Gracie Saenz has joined the Houston of Texas. John S. Rainey has opened a new offi ce for offi ce of Winstead PC as a partner in the Lisa Lepow Turboff of McGlinchey Stafford Greenberg Traurig, LLP in Austin, Texas. Government Relations and Public Finance has been listed in The Best Lawyers in Peter A. Sanchez has been elected 2009 groups. America 2009. chairman of the board of the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation. Class of 1987 Roderick B. Williams has joined K & L William Cross [8] has been appointed as Gates as a partner in the Austin offi ce. King L. Wong has been named partner with the fi rst Honourable Dick and Ruth Bell Chair Kenyon & Kenyon LLP. for the Study of Canadian Parliamentary Class of 1991 Democracy at Carleton University in Ottawa, R. Scott Downing [10] of the Dallas offi ce Class of 1994 Ontario, Canada. of McCurley Orsinger McCurley Nelson & Gary Cacciatore, VP of Regulatory Affairs Downing LLP has been recognized by his and Associate Chief Regulatory Counsel Renuka V. Jain is an associate with peers as one of the country’s top Family Law for Cardinal Health Inc., received the 2009 Khorrami Pollard & Abir LLP. attorneys in the 2010 edition of The Best UH College of Pharmacy Clinical Sciences Monica A. Oathout has been named Lawyers in America. & Administration Department’s Friends of president of the International Alliance of Law Michael S. Nuenke has joined Allied World Pharmacy Award. Cacciatore has taught Firms 2009-2010. Assurance Company as the Executive Vice Pharmacy Law as an adjunct faculty member for several years. Bonnie S. Stein, a partner at Curtin & President of U.S. Operations. Heefner LLP, has been named one of the top Pauline E. Higgins received the Texas 50 female attorneys in Pennsylvania by Law Class of 1992 Women of Excellence in Law 2008 award. Gregory Turley and Tom Crosley [11] & Politics Media, publishers of Pennsylvania Mike Nasi [14] of the Austin offi ce of Jackson www.law.uh.edu 17 CLASSNOTESCLASSNOTESCLASSNOTESCLASSNOTES

14 15 16 17 18

Walker LLP has been chosen by his peers as one Houston offi ce of Weil, Gotshal & Manges Class of 1999 of the Best Lawyers in America 2010. LLP, has been honored by Turnarounds Claude B. Anello has joined the Adams and David P. Whittlesey has joined Andrews and Workouts magazine as one of its Reese Houston offi ce as Special Counsel in Kurth LLP as a partner in the Austin offi ce. “Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyers the Transactions Practice Group. – 2009.” She is the only attorney from Texas Atlantis H. Langowski has joined the among the 12 selected for this recognition. Class of 1995 law fi rm of Emard Danoff Port Tamulski & Louis E. Buatt has taken the position of Steve Ramon was named a 2009 San Paetzold. Assistant Secretary of the Offi ce of Coastal Antonio Business Journal “40 Under 40” Michael G. Locklar is a new partner in Restoration and Management in the State of rising star. The award honors young people the Intellectual Property practice group of Louisiana. in San Antonio who are making a difference Jackson Walker LLP in its Houston offi ce. Loan Huynh [15] has been named in the business world and the community. partner with the Minneapolis-based fi rm Craig R. Martin has been named partner Class of 1997 of Fredrikson & Byron, specializing in in the Wilmington, DE, offi ce of Edwards J. Douglas Cuthbertson immigration. testifi ed before Angell Palmer & Dodge. the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Derrick Mitchell has been re-appointed by Hal Katz [16] of Brown McCarroll has Commercial and Administrative Law on Gov. Rick Perry to the State Securities Board. been selected to serve on the Austin Arts “An Undue Hardship? Discharging Commission through July 2012. Educational Debt in Bankruptcy.” Barclay Nicholson has been named partner with Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP. Serge A. Lomako has become the fi rst and Anthony F. Matheny has been named only Texas-based attorney to be certifi ed as a partner in the Houston offi ce of Greenberg M. Katherine Strahan has been named Russian Foreign Legal Consultant by the Texas Traurig, specializing in intellectual property partner at Andrews Kurth LLP. Supreme Court. and antitrust litigation. Class of 2000 Class of 1996 Kari S. Robinson [19] is a new partner in Jimmy F. Chester has joined the law fi rm of Aashish Y. Desai [17] of Mower, Carreon the Houston offi ce of McGlinchey Stafford Cowles & Thompson as a shareholder. & Desai, LLP in Irvine, CA., graced the PLLC focusing on consumer fi nance litigation. Sherrie L. Faubion has joined the law fi rm September cover of Los Angeles Lawyer Class of 1998 of Burleson Cooke LLP. magazine for his article concerning Farah P. Bhatti class action counsel on precertifi cation has been promoted to Jennifer H. Rogers is a new partner in the settlements. partner at McDermott Will & Emory. Real Estate practice group of Jackson Walker Cheryl Camin [20] LLP in its Austin offi ce. John J. Fraser, Jr. has joined the faculty joined the Dallas offi ce of the School of Medicine of The University of Winstead PC as a shareholder and will practice in the Corporate Securities/Mergers Class of 2003 of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Andrew M. Miller has joined the Washing- as Professor of Preventive Medicine & and Acquisitions group as well as the fi rm’s Health Care industry group. She also received a ton, D.C. offi ce of Blank Rome LLP as an Community Health and program director associate in the Commercial Litigation group. of the general preventive medicine and Presidential Citation from Dallas Bar Association (DBA) President Christina Melton Crain at the occupational medicine residencies. Class of 2006 DBA’s annual meeting. Camin received the John K. Barnes has joined Morgan, Lewis & David C. Pate has been named president and award for her signifi cant role in coordinating a Bockius in the Washington D.C. offi ce. CEO of St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho. recent DBA Rule of Law seminar, the fi rst and Lydia Protopapas, [18] a partner in the only one of its kind in Texas.

18 Briefcase spring 2010 CLASSNOTESCLASSNOTESCLASSNOTESCLASSNOTES Alert your classmates to news of note by sending information to [email protected].

John M. O’Quinn 1941-2009 The legal profession lost a giant the recognized in the library bearing his morning of Oct. 29, and the Law Center name, along with an endowed chair – lost one of its own — an alumnus, the A.L. O’Quinn Chair in Environmental benefactor and friend. Law – named in honor of John M. O’Quinn ’67 was his father. 19 20 killed when he lost control O’Quinn also was of his vehicle on a rain- a benefactor of the slickened roadway and University of Houston in Class of 2007 struck a tree. Sarah P. Snook has been elected secretary general and many charities of the El Paso Women’s Bar Association for In announcing his death to and institutions, including the 2008-09 term. the Law Center community, the Harris County Dean Raymond T. Nimmer Children’s Assessment Class of 2008 called him “one of the true Center, the Houston Emily Herbster has joined the Houston patriarchs of the University Council on Alcohol and offi ce of Winstead PC and will practice in the of Houston Law Center Drugs, and various Texas Commercial Litigation section. and a defi ning member Medical Center entities. Vishal H. Patel has joined the Dallas offi ce of the national and international trial He was a frequent speaker at the Law of Thompson & Knight LLP and will work in bars.” He went on, “I had the privilege Center, where he was always eager the Intellectual Property group. of knowing John for decades – and he to share his expertise with the next was one of those rare “larger than life” generation of attorneys. Class of 2009 lawyers who instantly commanded O’Quinn was raised in West University Jesús J. Castillón has joined the Houston attention and respect in any gathering.” offi ce of Baker & Hostetler LLP as an Place where his father operated a small associate. O’Quinn, 68, gained his reputation garage. He attended Rice University as through a series of high-profi le, and an engineering major before enrolling Christopher T. James has joined the Houston offi ce of Baker & Hostetler LLP as an high-dollar, class action lawsuits that in the law school and fi nding his true associate. earned him billions over the years. calling. “From minute one of day one He was known to be obsessive in his of class one, I felt like a duck who’d Morgan A. Tarlton has joined the Houston preparation and a fi erce advocate for gone to water,” he told the Houston offi ce of Baker & Hostetler LLP as an associate. his clients, both large and small. Chronicle for a lengthy profi le in 1998. His generosity to the Law Center is “I knew this is where I should be.”

IN MEMORIAM IN MEMORIAM IN MEMORIAM Eugene J. Pitman ‘50 Russell H. McMains ‘71 Joan Farmer ‘85 Joseph A. Porto ‘51 John E. Neslage ‘72 Tonya Anne Morse ‘88 Bettye Lambert ’54 Joy S. Burgum ‘73 Ann Dinsmore Forman ’91 Gordon Gray ’58 Robert J. Sussman ‘74 Celia Figueroa ’94 Edward H. Schwab ’58 Randolph Quaile McManus ‘75 Robert Wayne Ohnesorge ‘96 Edward T. Minor ’60 David Joseph Stone ‘75 Paul L. Crist LL.M. ‘96 Enrique Pena ’62 Mariamil Pinson ‘76 William Ruff Ahders ‘68 Jonna Lea Short ‘76 Richard R. Loya ‘01 Simon Philp ’69 Alfred James Ratcliffe ‘78 Betty Bradley LL.M. ‘06 Russell Austin ‘70 John Paul Ventura ‘78 Joseph Anthony Vail, Professor

www.law.uh.edu 19 The Law Center welcomes four newcomers who bring a wealth of expertise, experience NEW and enthusiasm in fi elds ranging from criminal, consumer and intellectual property law to information technology. Here’s a brief FACES introduction to those new faces in the hall.

Adam M. Gershowitz Sapna Kumar J. Scott Smith David M. Tiede “I strive for a balance of “I look forward to returning “The Law Center is a Tier “During tough economic Socratic dialogue, lecture, home to Houston. I hope One school and deserves times, when many Texas and classroom discussion to show UH students that top notch information consumers are left to fend in my classes. I think it’s patent law is not just a technology systems and for themselves, our students important for students to not specialized area of practice, support for the students, can help to level the playing only learn the legal rules but but one that connects faculty, and staff. I plan to fi eld.” to think hard about why the to a wide range of legal provide the highest level of David M. Tiede is rules are designed the way fi elds, from antitrust to support possible to enable the new director of they are and how they might administrative law.” the Law Center to achieve its the Texas Con- be shaped better.” strategic missions.” Sapna Kumar joins sumer Complaint Adam M. Ger- the Law Center’s J. Scott Smith joins Center, succeeding showitz comes to Insti tute for Intel- the Law Center as the late found- the Law Center lectual Property & assistant dean for ing director, John aft er a disti nguished Informati on Law informati on technol- Ventura. Tiede is well-grounded in tenure at the South faculty aft er com- ogy with the mission the area of consumer law having Texas College of Law pleti ng a clerkship to improve and build worked most recently as a deputy where students on with Judge Kenneth F. Ripple of the IT infrastructure att orney general in the Consumer successive years honored him with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the to reinforce the school’s top-ti er Law Secti on for the State of the Best New Professor Award, Seventh Circuit in Chicago. She positi on. And he has the technical California in San Diego. During All Faculty Advising Award and came to the att enti on of the Law savvy and experience to more than his nearly 13-year tenure at the All Faculty Teaching Award. Prior Center in 2008 when she won the meet that challenge. Prior to com- AG’s offi ce, Tiede handled a wide to joining the South Texas faculty IPIL Sponsored Scholarship Grant ing to the Law Center, Smith was variety of cases in administrati ve, in 2005, Gershowitz worked as a for Federal Appellate Court Clerks. informati on technology manager state and federal courts from fi ling liti gati on associate with Covington Kumar previously served as a fac- for the Department of Family and through trial and appeal, including & Burling in Washington, D.C., and ulty fellow at the Duke University Community Medicine at Baylor discriminati on, contract, and tort clerked for Judge Robert B. King School of Law/Duke Center for College of Medicine in Houston, acti ons. Aft er moving to the Con- of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Genome Ethics Law & Policy and as providing support for more than sumer Law secti on in 2005, he was the Fourth Circuit in Charleston, an adjunct professor at her alma 250 faculty members and staff involved in the investi gati on of, W.Va. He earned his J.D. from the mater, the University of Chicago in 13 separate locati ons. Smith liti gati on against, and negoti ati on University of Virginia School of Law School. Prior to earning her received his B.S. in politi cal science with nati onal and multi -nati onal Law in 2001 and his B.A., summa J.D. in 2003, Kumar graduated from the University of Houston in corporati ons engaged in unfair and cum laude, in politi cal science and from the University of Texas in 1989 and a master’s with a tech- decepti ve business practi ces. He criminal justi ce from the University 1999 with a B.S. in mathemati cs nology concentrati on in human previously worked in civil defense of Delaware in 1998. Gershowitz and a B.A. in Philosophy. When she resources development from the for the fi rm of Klinedinst, Fliehman has published numerous arti cles isn’t heft ing law books, Kumar en- University of Texas-Tyler in 2007.` & McKillop in San Diego. Despite in leading law journals with his joys slinging on her backpack and his California ti es, Tiede is a Texan latest, Prosecutorial Shaming, in getti ng back to nature. You might through and through. Raised in the University of California Davis hear her singing along the trail as Austi n, he graduated in 1990 from Law Review. At the Law Center, she has performed with various the University of Texas at Austi n Gershowitz will teach courses choirs over the years and is looking with a B.A. in Plan II Honors and ranging from Criminal Law and for a new one in Houston. earned his J.D. from UT in 1993. Criminal Procedure to Consti tu- He takes over a highly success- ti onal Law. At home, he formerly ful consumer aid program that is enjoyed reading the classics, but unique among the nati on’s law with a young son, now searches schools. Since its founding in 2006, for deeper meaning in Curious students have saved consumers or George. helped obtain services worth more than $1.8 million.

20 Briefcase spring 2010 Michelle Bohreer ’89 had been on the ground only a few minutes when the earth began to move. Staring through the dust-streaked windows of their vehicle, the Law Center graduate and fi ve members of a long-planned humanitarian mission became rolling witnesses to one of the epic disasters of modern times: the Jan. 12 earthquake that claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 Haitians.

Months earlier, after assuming the presiden- snapped pictures with her digital camera, and cy of the 3,200-member Rotary Club of Hous- her child subjects marveled and laughed when ton, Bohreer had made Haiti the cornerstone they saw themselves on the camera’s small of her group’s charitable work. This quick trip screen. “I was just trying to keep them from to Port-au-Prince was the fi nal step before collapsing,” Bohreer said. “And just for a brief work would begin on a new water well for a moment, they forgot.” small hospital in the island nation’s capital. Ev- and pleading for help.” When members of Bohreer won’t soon forget the sight erything had gone fl awlessly – until the world’s Bohreer’s group were able to pick up a small of hundreds of corpses – bodies protruding seismographs confi rmed that a magnitude 7.0 amount of medical supplies from a Doctors from the wreckage, bodies lying in the streets, earthquake was hitting Haiti. Without Borders facility, she described the re- some left forgotten and others covered with Riding in an ambulance sent to pick them turn to the hospital as “walking in with one sheets and blankets. When the Rotary group up at the airport, Bohreer said they began to drink when you have 100 thirsty people.” The fi nally made its way to the airport and returned feel some bumps and jolts. “We thought it was crowd cheered and applauded as the supplies home on Friday morning, Bohreer and the oth- car trouble or maybe just bad roads,” she said, were unloaded. ers tried to give voice to their experiences. But “but we realized it wasn’t just us. The whole “Everybody deals with tragedy different- how does someone describe the images of world was shaking. Power lines started sway- ly,” Bohreer said. “I’m a lawyer, not a doctor, so thousands of arms and legs and faces? Or the ing and popping like gunfi re and people were I tried to help the kids.” Bohreer found ways to pervasive stench that no kerchief or facemask waving their arms. Then buildings started fall- comfort the smallest survivors huddled at the could fi lter away? ing.” The planned 30-minute drive to Daquini hospital, playing games and reassuring them Bohreer, a founding partner of Bohreer & Hospital in the heart of the capital wound up that the world had not come to an end. She Zucker LLP, a small litigation fi rm with offi ces in taking fi ve hours, with the ambulance inching the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, went its way through frantic crowds and weaving to Haiti with four other Houston area Rotarians around the rubble of collapsed brickwork. and a University of Texas journalism student to When they reached the hospital, Bohreer check on the water well project and to visit and the others in her group helped where they two orphanages and assess their needs. As this could, assisting with triage, organizing sup- story goes to press, the Rotary Club of Houston plies and helping to erect a makeshift surgical now has an ambulance at the Port of Houston bay outside the hospital. Tuesday night, im- ready to go. But with each passing day, the mediately after the quake, was “total chaos,” needs of Haiti seem to escalate exponentially, with survivors desperate to get medical care just like the Richter scale. for family members and themselves. Injuries “There are thousands and thousands of ranged from cuts and deep gashes to limbs sweet people who are just trying to survive,” that were either mangled or missing. Every- Bohreer says. “We’ve got to help rebuild Haiti, where, lines of survivors waited for help from but we’ve got to get past the disaster and help the few doctors on hand. the country form a government and create a sus- By Wednesday, the crowd had settled tainable culture. We need to teach the Haitians down – both emotionally and physically – how to take care of themselves.” Haiti today thanks to blankets and makeshift coverings needs doctors more than lawyers, but Bohreer supplied by aid workers. “People started to plans to continue advocating for the island na- accept that there were no medical supplies,” tion. “I can do more here telling congressmen she said. “They stopped grabbing at you Michelle Bohreer ‘89 that they need to help Haiti,” she says. • www.law.uh.edu 21 here are two sides to any story supersedes “activism” for most of the lawyers ininvolving animal abuse. On one who work in the animal law arena. Lawyers sideside are defendants such as for- can make money working on behalf of ani- mermer NFL quarterback Michael Vick, mals, she adds, but the only lawyers who work who canc always turn to the defense exclusively in the niche generally represent bar forfo representation. But what major organizations with associated contracts, Taboutabout theth animals? Thanks to a grow- fundraising and other legal issues. ing number of courses on animal law taught Bures Danna’s involvement with animals at law schools throughout the country, a new goes beyond her work in Law Center class- breed of lawyers is stepping forward with rooms and her service on animal-related State the training needed to protect the rights of Bar of Texas committees and various boards. abused animals. In addition to caring for two German shep- Amy Bures Danna (left), an adjunct pro- herds, she and her husband have helped care fessor at the Law Center, introduced animal for more than 70 dogs rescued from abusive law to the school’s curriculum in 2005. Not settings by animal control offi cers. She obvi- only does the self-professed animal lover ously favors helping animals – but she believes teach a spring semester course on the topic, the extreme measures implemented by groups but she also has successfully integrated ani- such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment mal law into her litigation practice, making of Animals) and the radical Animal Liberation it a “growing sideline” of The Clary Firm in Front may alienate the public and actually hurt Humble, Texas. Enrollment in Bures Danna’s the animals’ cause. animal law courses at the Law Center has Of the 10 to 15 animal-related calls she remained small but steady, and she reports fi elds each week, only a small number develop that at least six graduates have gone on to into actual cases. Many of the calls come from handle animal-related cases in their practice. other attorneys seeking to confi rm the rules of Two decades ago, Harvard was among animal law in Texas. One attorney called Bures the fi rst schools to offer a course in animal Danna recently to ask if the state prohibited law, and eight more had introduced similar an owner shooting their dog. Biting her lip, courses by the turn of the century. Then things the adjunct professor dutifully recited the let- “exploded,” according to Bures Danna. Today, ter of the law: in Texas, as long as no torture the Animal Legal Defense Fund reports that is involved, an owner can kill his or her own more than 100 schools offer courses in ani- animal “just like you can dispose of a sofa.” mal law, and one of them – Lewis & Clark in But some phone calls yield brighter outcomes. Portland – has launched a veritable think-tank Bures Danna recently drafted a trust for a well- with its respected Center for Animal Law Stud- to-do woman who wanted to bequeath mil- ies. Two years ago, in response to the growing lions to a non-profi t sanctuary for feral cats. popularity of the legal niche, the American Animal law cases can capture the national Association of Law Schools even added a spe- spotlight when a celebrity athlete is convicted cial section on animal law. of animal cruelty, or a meat processing plant is accused of inhumane treatment of animals. Defi ning the Law These high-profi le cases help raise the nation’s Issues in animal law read like an index to consciousness about animal rights, but Bures Black’s dictionary. The niche can encompass Danna sees other reasons for focusing on property rights, landlord/tenant and neighbor animal law and teaching it to law students. Juries seem to have a soft heart for animals. Law Center alumnus Richard “Racehorse” Haynes ’56 recalled how the legendary Percy Foreman once told him that if you can prove someone hurt a horse or a dog, the jury will always return a guilty verdict. “But it doesn’t work so well with cats,” Haynes noted.

disputes, free speech and other constitutional “We have to take the coldness out of the law questions, personal injury, contracts, trusts and look at how we can better interact with and regulation of businesses and non-profi ts. our world and all of its components,” she And animal law is increasingly seen in criminal says. By exposing her students to the human- courts, with defendants charged with dog- ity woven throughout animal law, she hopes fi ghting, abuse and neglect. Bures Danna they can ultimately make life better – not only admits to being an animal activist, but she for animals, but also the planet’s two-legged says that advocating for animal rights typically creatures. •

22 Briefcase spring 2010 BRIEFLYNOTEDBRIEFLYNOTEDBRIEFLYNOTED

1 2 3 4 Cutting edge speakers Four experts in various aspects of criminal law captured the attention of Law Center audi- ences during the Leading Voices Lecture Series sponsored by the Criminal Justice Institute. Extraordinary lecture for Speakers and topics in the “Criminal Law at the Cutting Edge” series included Wayne A. Judge Brown centennial Logan [1], Florida State University College of Law, Criminal Registration and Community The Law Center commemorated the Notifi cation Laws in America; Corinna Barrett Lain [2], University of Richmond School of 100th anniversary of the birth of Judge Law, Our (Not So) Countermajoritarian Supreme Court; Stephanos Bibas of the University John R. Brown with a special lecture of Pennsylvania Law School [3], Morality and Effi ciency in the Criminal Justice Assembly on Judging in Extraordinary Times by Line; and Deborah W. Denno [4], Fordham University School of Law, Why Outmoded Samuel Issacharoff, professor of Con- Views of Mental State Affect Our Ability to be Just. stitutional Law at New York University School of Law. The professor (pictured below) noted how extraordinary people such as Judge Brown seem to come to the fore when society confronts “extraordi- nary times.” Judge Brown, a longtime admiralty lawyer in Houston and Day in the Life Series Galveston prior Ethical victory Law Center students learned about life to his appoint- A Law Center mock trial team swept to as a practicing lawyer through the “Day ment to the U.S. victory in a major national competition in the Life” series hosted by the UH Law Fifth Circuit Court in California, winning on a breach of Alumni Association. In four weekly ses- of Appeals, was instrumental in a series contract case involving the fi lm industry. sions, students heard from prosecutors of crucial civil rights decisions affecting Sixteen teams representing the best and defense attorneys, lawyers specializ- African-Americans. Students, alumni, programs in the country competed in the ing in real estate, personal injury, energy faculty, Brown’s former clerks and his invitational National Ethics Trial Com- and family law, even a former judge. The widow, Vera Riley Brown (left), attended petition in Sacramento. The Law Center series was coordinated by Susan Sanchez the lecture in quartet included Sean Monks, 2L, Sara ’87, and included perspectives shared Krost Hall. FYI, Waller, 3L, Amanda Frase, 3L, and Chuck by Gordon Arnold ’88, Eva F. O’Brien a video of the Greenlee, 2L. Waller was named Best ’85 and Denis Braham (pictured above), commemora- Advocate based on her combined scores along with Joe Epstein ’88, Larry Pirtle tive lecture is for the semi-fi nals and fi nal rounds, while ’66, Tony Rosenstein ’76, Alvin Zimmer- archived on the Frase earned the highest score in the fi nal man ’67, George Gibson ’95, Louis Davis Law Center’s round. The team was coached by Jackie ’76, Jim Perdue Jr. ’93, Nicole DeBorde website under Houlette ‘93 and Julie Gray ‘04. ’93, and Donna Clark ’83. News & Events.

www.law.uh.edu 23 BRIEFLYNOTEDBRIEFLYNOTEDBRIEFLYNOTED

‘Man of the Year’ Giuliani to deliver keynote address at Commencement 2010 New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s abil- ity to calm the nation in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks earned him a knighthood Legal majority and a “Man of the Year” award from Time EELPJ Symposia The Law Center is well represented magazine. On Sunday, May 16, 2010, this The Environmental & Energy Law on the University of Houston Board of key fi gure of modern history will step to the & Policy Journal continues to tackle Regents with the recent appointment microphone at Hofheinz Hall and deliver leading topics of the day with signature of two more alums bringing the total to the keynote address of the Law Center’s symposia featuring leading experts in fi ve of the nine members. In September, 2010 commencement exercises. Alumni their fi elds. Last year, the student-run Gov. Rick Perry appointed Nandita V. and friends are invited to attend the noon publication investigated “Sustainabil- Berry ’95 and Jarvis V. Hollingsworth ceremony and the reception at the Law ity: Moving from Theory to Practical ’93 to six-year terms. They join Nelda Center that immediately follows. In 2009, Application” with lectures and panel Luce Blair ‘82, Jacob M. Monty ’93 former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice discussions by academic experts and and Carroll Robertson Ray ‘02. Tom Phillips urged graduates of the Law legal practitioners in a wide range of Center to “live greatly in the law” and disciplines from energy and transporta- carve out their own niche whether it be tion to climate change and community in the public service sector, research or planning. This year, the EELPJ looked rapidly developing technical fi elds. at “Climate Change, Water & Adaptive Law,” with State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) delivering the keynote address.

Immigration Clinic Case Reaches SCOTUS Clinical Professor Geoffrey A. Hoffman, the Joseph A. Vail workshops Lectures mark Native new director of the Immigration Clinic at aid immigrants American Heritage Month the Law Center, obviously knows how to The Law Center hosted the fi rst immigra- It took a member of the Choctaw Nation hit the ground running. Within weeks of tion workshops named in honor of the of Oklahoma to properly observe Native taking his new post, he served as co- late Joseph A. Vail, a revered member American Heritage Month, and Dr. Gavin counsel before the U.S. Supreme Court on of the Law Center faculty who earned Clarkson of the Law Center faculty did it in a deportation case initially pursued by Im- enduring respect as an immigration entertaining and informative style with twin migration Clinic students. Hoffman reports attorney, judge, professor and founder lectures. The fi rst talk debunked the myth that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the of the school’s Immigration Law Clinic. labels modern American Indians as rich casino SCOTUS review, and cited how questions The Asylum Workshop was designed to moguls. (Few tribe members actually share from the justices revealed their “high- provide attorneys with the basic tools in the spoils of casino gambling, Clarkson level engagement with the diverse issues” needed to represent applicants in asylum said.) The second explored sports mascots, raised in the case. 2Ls Charlotte Simon, and immigration hearings. The “How to… caricatures and stereotypes and how they can Andrea Boulares and Magda Gonzalez Workshop” was aimed directly at immi- be offensive and even painful to some Native researched the merits brief submitted to grants, offering practical answers to ques- Americans. Clarkson’s bottom line: it’s time the high court, and Sri Srinivasan of the tions ranging from how to get a driver’s to do away with these symbols, which can Washington, D.C., fi rm of O’Melveny & license to how to apply for citizenship. provoke economic and social damage. Myers LLP handled the oral argument.

24 Briefcase spring 2010 “Campus Living for Campus Life” is an apt marketing slogan for the new Calhoun Lofts next to the Law Center. But the phrase also sums up what the graduate housing development represents in the University’s push for top-tier status.

ccordingc to Vice President for Student derstatement. “To live at a nice place, prac- of the downtown skyline – and their stone’s- AffairsA Elwyn C. Lee, who served on tically at the Law Center, makes the school throw walk to the Law Center. the project’s planning committee, more of a community.” The 547,000 square-foot facility includes the addition of nearly 1,000 on- Convenience was a big factor for two 734 apartments, a movie theater, fi tness room, A campus residents will push the uni- LL.M. students, Magali Delhaye of Belgium multi-purpose rooms, computer lab, study versity closer to the magic 25 percent bench- and Jorge Velasco of Spain, who were among rooms, lounges, laundry rooms with televisions mark that differentiates a “commuter” school the fi rst Law Center students to take residence and aerobic equipment, a catering kitchen/spe- from a “residential” environment. He sees the in the Calhoun Lofts. “If you forget a book, cial events area and two open-air terraces with new residential facility fostering an “identity” you just go across the street and get it,” says panoramic views of the campus and city. First and adding vibrancy to the campus and its Delhaye. The two were able to avoid the stress fl oor retail space includes space for a cleaners, sports and cultural events. of fi nding suitable housing in a strange city by Mini Mart, Barnes & Noble and the Law Center Lee says the Calhoun Lofts represent an viewing the Lofts on the Internet. “We made bookstore. Prices vary according to the type of important amenity for the Law Center. “The all the arrangements on-line from Europe,” unit, ranging from unfurnished effi ciency to Law Center has long wanted housing and I says Velasco. The two rave about the complex furnished two-bedroom. Rent includes cable, think it will be a big plus, making it even more and its amenities, which they compare favor- Wi-Fi, local phone service, gas, water and an attractive to out-of-state students. The study ably to an upscale hotel, and are pleased with electricity allowance that covers most usage. • of law is very intense,” he adds by way of un- their two-bedroom apartment with its view www.housing.uh.edu/calhounlofts

www.law.uh.edu 25 ALUMNINETWORKALUMNINETWORKALUMNINETWORK

www.UHLawAlumni.net

Alumni of the University of Houston Law Center have a new gathering spot to pursue their in- terests, advance their careers, and stay in touch with classmates. From blogs to jobs, from class updates to group uptakes, the center of activity is found at www.UHLawAlumni.net. This free site is reserved for Law Center graduates, and it’s easy to register. Just enter your name, class year and birthdate – and start putting the power of alumni networking to work for you.